Maybe your boss is finally retiring, or your brother is turning 40 for the third year in a row. Perhaps you’re planning a big holiday party, and the consensus is that the place must have wooden chairs and a piano. Whatever the occasion, the “dining room” at your apartment only fits four in a pinch, so you’re going to need a private room.
Here’s a guide to our favorite restaurants with private rooms that can hold anywhere from eight to 800 of your family members, colleagues, or whomever else you need to have a secluded meal with. Call ahead though, because these places book up quickly.
This Koreatown spot might feel like a calm, intimate neighborhood restaurant, but it's not-so-secretly a luxurious pasta palace. If your party is centered around the finer things in life, like delicate handmade tortelli and four-inch-high clouds of focaccia, this is the venue for you.
Capacity: Parties of 7-12 people require a family-style set menu. Parties of 12+ require a full buyout, which seats up to 54.
At Dunsmoor in Glassell Park, you'll find a live hearth filling the room with a beautiful, warm glow. It's some next-level mood lighting, but the fire pit also serves another purpose: to cook delicious Southern-leaning dishes. There are three communal tables available for events, each one accommodating a different party size. There's also a private wine bar in the back that's available for cocktail receptions, plus the option of a full buyout.
Love & Salt is a great neighborhood Italian spot in Manhattan Beach and one of the few places in the area where words like buzzy, noisy, and lively come to mind. If you’re planning a private event in this part of town and that’s the ambiance you’re aiming for, here’s your answer.
Capacity: Private wine cellar room seats up to 20 people and a family-style menu is required.
Ospi is one of our favorite Italian restaurants on the Westside with razor-thin pizzas, spicy rigatoni, and creative dishes like butter chicken parmesan, all of which you can enjoy in the private dining space above the Venice spot’s bar. Everyone chooses their courses from prix fixe menus, which means more wine and less debate about what plates to order for the table.
Capacity: Private dining room seats up to 18 people.
As the name suggests, Catch Steak is the meat-focused franchise of Catch a few blocks away, but it attracts a similar crowd of people with an appetite for exclusivity and posting photos of their dry-aged steaks. This is where you go for a sceney LA dining experience where you might dine next to a reality TV star and spend a lot of money on generic but tasty food.
Capacity: Private dining available for groups of 9 or larger.
The excellent sake bar in Echo Park, Ototo, has a private room available to book for events and large groups. It’s not exactly private, although sectioned off from the rest of the restaurant—so if you’re looking to get rowdy or spill classified company secrets, keep that in mind.
Capacity: 10
The Mailroom is The Old Place’s private dining room. Located in the Santa Monica mountains, this building is loaded with history—it was once home to the original sorting table from the Cornell Post Office, is lit by an antique chandelier, and the walls are adorned with original art painted by the matriarch of the Runyon family, Barbara Runyon (!).
Capacity: 12
This legendary steakhouse off PCH has been a Santa Monica institution for the better half of the last seven decades - and now, you can reserve their outdoor patio, bar, or full-on restaurant for all your prime rib and yorkshire pudding needs.
Capacity: 13+
Felix is a notoriously tough reservation but a worthy hassle because the Venice restaurant is still one of the best Italian spots in town. For a memorable dinner full of freshly made pasta, Felix has its Nonna Room available for private events.
Capacity: 25 people.
This French-ish bistro in Pasadena is perfect for a handful of occasions, like date night, a (great) pre-theater meal, and a private event. There are various spaces to host a party, including a semi-private communal table, the bar area and its adjacent lounge, and both full and partial buyouts.
Capacity: The “Big Oval” table seats 12 guests, the bar & lounge area seats 30, partial buyouts seat 20, and full buyouts seat 180. Minimum food and beverage rates apply depending on party size.
Saffy’s is the glamorous kebab house of our dreams. And if this place weren’t always so damn busy, we’d be regulars at the bar so we could sip rose-infused vespers and snack on lobster skewers. Saffy’s hosts its private events on its heated outdoor terrace and requires a five-course, prix-fixe menu and a minimum spend of $17,500 (!) for groups larger than 25 people.
Capacity: Terrace seats parties of 9 to 25 people with a five-course, prix-fixe menu ($105 per person). Full buyouts are available for 50+ people with a minimum spend.
Loreto in Frogtown is a Russian doll of event spaces. Besides a full buyout, you can book either the outdoor patio or the garden space for an al fresco Mexican seafood meal that feels like you're at a Cabo San Lucas resort. There's also the semi-private Oyster Room and the fully private Martini Room for smaller parties.
Capacity: Oyster Room seats 20 people, Martini Room seats 25, and the patio and garden each seat 50. Full buyouts are also available.
This buzzy northern Spanish restaurant in Santa Monica not only has one but two different mezzanine spaces to choose from. You and your guests can drink sangria and snack on pork ribs and grilled squid all night and overlook the downstairs dining space.
Capacity: Dining room mezzanine seats 16 people, Bar mezzanine seats up to 26.
If you’re looking for something that screams “elegance” (without actually raising your voice), an upscale French restaurant, Pasjoli in Santa Monica has an outdoor back patio with a multi-course dinner served family-style.
Capacity: 20
